How To Use Personalized Online Training Contracts In Corporate eLearning

Personalized online training contracts lay the foundation for professional success. They give employees the power to take charge of their own development, and ensure that they meet companywide standards. But how do you create online training contracts that cater to individual needs when there is an entire staff to consider? Here are 8 tips and techniques to get the most benefit from personalized online training contracts in your organization.

1. Encourage Employees To Set Their Own Goals

Employees have different desired outcomes. They are at different points in their lives and professional careers, which means that they also have different experience levels. As such, they must be able to set their own goals and objectives in order to truly benefit from online training. Invite them to create a list of personalized goals that they want to focus on and why. For example, an IT tech would like to concentrate on his service skills in order to improve his customer satisfaction ratings.

2. Use Pre-Assessments To Identify Gaps

Personalized online training contracts allow employees to focus on individual knowledge, skill, and performance gaps that are hindering their workplace productivity. However, they may not even be aware that these gaps exist in the first place. For this reason, you should use pre-assessments to gauge their knowledge and proficiency. Scenarios and simulations are ideal qualitative assessment tools for this purpose. Employees are evaluated based on their decisions and actions during the online training activity. Lack of experience and necessary skills leads them to undesirable outcomes. Thus, they immediately know what they need to work on during their online training sessions.

3. Get To The Root Of The Performance Problem

Performance issues may recur if the employee is unaware of the underlying cause. For example, limiting beliefs or incorrect information can lead to poor task performance. Therefore, self-reflection and evaluation is essential for personalized online training contracts. Online training assessments, manager evaluations, and on-the-job observations are all helpful diagnostic tools. You can also use peer-based feedback to pinpoint employee strengths and areas for improvement.

4. Create Realistic Milestones To Monitor Progress

Personalized online training contracts provide a framework for employees who may lack the motivation or focus. These individuals now have a set schedule to follow. Best of all, they set this schedule themselves and are able to factor in other commitments, a heavy workload or personal obligations for example. This facilitates more realistic milestones that employees can actually achieve, which fuels their motivation and engagement. Manageable milestones also allow them to break long-term goals into individual tasks and assignments. For instance, improving their sales figures requires them to improve certain skill sets. Thus, they can seek out relevant resources to bridge gaps and bring them one step closer to achieving the desired outcome.

5. Include Resource Recommendations

Employees need the building blocks to improve their proficiency and productivity. Therefore, you must provide them with resource recommendations that focus on their specific areas for improvement. For example, online simulations to help them build real-world experience. Or "moment of need" online resources to keep them up-to-date with compliance. Bear in mind that these are just recommendations. Employees still have the option to take or leave the advice. They can also seek out additional resources to suit their needs and preferences, such as podcasts instead of online tutorials, etc.

6. Schedule Regular "Catch Up" Meetings

Set up regular meetings with employees who are under contract to check their progress and offer recommendations. This is also a good time to re-evaluate their goals and milestones to ensure that they are still on track. For example, they may need to add new objectives to their contract or make adjustments to their timeline. Even though such training agreements do hold them accountable, they should still offer some degree of flexibility. One of the most essential tools that you'll need for these "catch up" meetings is video conferencing software, or a Project Management online platform.

7. Assign A Mentor For Ongoing Support

How can you provide everyone with the individualized support they require, especially if you're working with a large group? The solution is an online mentorship program that pairs more experienced employees with those who are under contract. Pair each participant with a mentor who shares similar interests, job responsibilities, or goals. Then encourage them to work together to achieve the contract milestones. In fact, it's wise to involve mentors right from the beginning, as they can help create a personalized plan of action based on the employee's skill and performance gaps.

8. Always Have A Back-Up Plan In Place

There's always a possibility that emergencies and unforeseen events will get in the way of the online training process. For this reason, it's important to have a contingency plan in place to help employees get back on track. As an example, the employee was unable to complete their certification exam before the recommended deadline. However, their contract states that they can meet with their instructor or mentor to reschedule the exam, or that they have a one week "grace period" to complete online training assignments and tasks. This is another reason why you should schedule regular meetings with employees. During these sessions you can address any issues that arise and then resolve them together.

Personalized online training contracts require an ongoing commitment. The end of the online training contract doesn’t mean that the training process comes to an end. Which is why it's so essential to maintain an open dialogue with your corporate learners, and offer them continual feedback and online training resources in order to facilitate lifelong learning.